2.25.2011

Bus drivers who skip stops

Riding the bus is bad enough as it is, so I hate it when bus drivers make it more difficult than it has to be. This happens in more than one way, but the worst way is when they skip stops.

I know some people have never ridden a bus before, so I'll explain how this works. When you are on the bus and you want to get off, you pull a cord that runs the whole length of the bus. It makes a dinging noise and then the sign at the front will flash "stop requested" along with the other things it's flashing (like the bus route and the time and stuff).

So anyway, if nobody pulls the cord and there isn't anyone waiting at the stop, the bus won't stop. But even if there are people at the stop, you still have to pull the cord because A) if the bus is full the bus won't stop to pick more people up and B) the driver won't open the back door if nobody's pulled the cord. (B is negotiable because you just have to say "Back door" and they'll open it, but if you pull the cord, they open it automatically.)

Often, people get in the habit of pulling the cord as soon as they pass the stop before their stop. This is helpful because it gets it out of the way, but sometimes it creates a problem.

Some bus stops are very far apart, so when you pull the cord right after the first bus stop, the bus driver forgets by the time the bus reaches your stop.

This is unacceptable, and here's why:

Your only job right now is to safely drive people from one stop to the next, stopping at each stop that has been requested or that has someone waiting. How do you mess up your only job?

It is SO inconvenient to have to walk all the way back to wherever you need to be. One time, this happened to someone on Grand River (a major street) and the next stop is all the way over a bridge. So the girl had quite a walk to get back to her destination.

It's also so annoying to have to go all the way back. Walking TO a destination is one thing, but passing up your destination and having to walk back to it is just obnoxious.

You would think that if the bus driver passed up your stop, you would be able to say something and he or she would stop for you as soon as possible. This happens sometimes, but more often than not, the bus driver just continues to the next stop without even acknowledging that anyone has said anything, which is rude on an entirely different level.

Just saying, bus drivers, make sure you stop when someone wants to get off the bus.